adman

I should have added - is there any way to test the key other than its ability to lock and unlock the car? Thanks Adman

Thanks for the tip. I've tried this, but still the central locking system will not respond to the key. I haven't got a spare key - I put it somewhere safe five years ago and haven't the slightest idea where it might be. I suppose I need to take it to a dealer. Thanks Adman

I had the same problem - after 3 years an MOT warning that the discs were showing signs of corrosion and wear. 18 months later - 4 yera service requirede complete replacement due to wear and corrossion. I'm told that it is fairly common place to have to carry out this replacement - due to composition of discs. I know from experience that after only a few days of standing on the drive in damp weather will coat the discs in fine rust that needs clearing by braking as soon as you move off - an almost routine occurence. By comparison my landrover has never had that problem and id on the same set of frony discs after 22 years - and they do experirnces the wet beyond the oddd rainy day od a regular basis. Adman

Since posting this - I've been advised to disconnect the negative connection from the battery and touch it to the (still connected) positive terminal for a few seconds to reset the whole system. My advisor (who is an AA roadside engineer) tells me, that first, since I only generally use the car the car for short journeys the long journey to Nottingham would have confused the cars systems and secondly that over time (possibly caused by the journey) ststic would have built up and the only way to deal with this is to carry out the procedure mentioned above. Does this make sense to anyone (it doesn't to me) and is the procedure OK to reset the system? Thanks Adman

I know similar questions have been posed - I've had a look through the forum, however.... After 5 years of fautless motoring in my 1.4 SX C3, the central locking system suddenly fails to operate - start of journey fine, end of journey dead. I've changed the battery and reset the key as suggested in the manual (use key to turn on the ignition and operate the buttons) and the key is still dead. This all happened as I was parking the car in the car parks at the East Midlands Airport prior to flying off on holiday for two weeks. The AA was called - he was the one who put a new battery in. He couldn't sort it out. The central locking system works from within the car using the dashboard button perfectly. I worked out how to manually lock all the doors from the manual, however there seems to be no way to lock the boot manually - am I missing something? I had to leave the car parked up against a wall to avoid entry. Is there really no way to manually lock the boot? Do keys usually fail so suddenly as this? I haven't been tinkering with the electrics and haven't installed a new radio as have others with similar problems. Is there something I'm overlooking in the resetting the system after a battery replacement? I'd be grateful fo any advise before I toddle off to my local dealer for further help. Many thanks Adman